The Florida Fall Veggie Garden - Let the Planting Begin!

Winterbor Kale and Packman Broccoli 

Saturday in South Florida was overcast and gloomy, loved it! The day was a tad cooler at a mere 88 deg.F and as I wrote this post at 5.00pm it was already down to 75 deg.F.

Lemon Boys, Sweet Pepper, Red Sails Lettuce and Radicchio

I thought it would be a good day to get some transplants in the above-ground-veg boxes so I made a quick trip to Home Depot. I'll explain why I'm mentioning them in a moment.





They have just about everything! Broccoli, cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, zucchinis, kale, and a plethora (I love that word) of both tomatoes and herbs. Also they have a HUGE selection of seeds available which I don't remember - in previous years - being readily available until late October.

At the moment Home Depot have a sale of a 9 pack of vegs for $2.50 - that's .30 cents a plant!

When I got home with my goodies, a thunderstorm had blown up so any delirious ideas about planting was squished.

Sunday though.....

Packman Broccoli

I planted 9 of the broccoli in the garden and, as a companion plant, also sowed seeds of Nasturtium in between broccoli. 

Other good companion plants for broccoli are: carrots, bush beans, cukes, lettuce, potato, radish, onions and celery. Herbs include: dill, sage, basil, rosemary.

Note: Various sources do not recommend planting onions with bush beans.

Lemon Boy with Red Sails Lettuce and Radish seed

After the disastrous tomatoes-in-the-ground harvest of last season, I'm growing all my tomats in pots this year!

One is sharing a pot with the Red Sails Lettuce and the other is nestled in among the bush beans. I included a few radish seeds with the lettuce.

Other companion plants for tomats include: basil, cabbage, carrots, celery, chives, garlic, onions and peppers.

I buried a ripe banana with its skin on under both the tomats here. In years gone by I have noticed they take off once their roots reach the banana. The brick is to hold the pot down so the raccoons cannot dig banana up.

Flowerlady Lorraine over at Flowerladys Musings asked me how I prevented the raccoons digging my vegetables up, this is one of my techniques. The good old brick trick! And here's my other 'secret' weapon. Our fierce little guard dog Pikachu!

"Did someone mention Raccoon! Let me at 'em!"

Elsewhere in our backyard paradise. I want to show you my rose bush, Chrysler Imperial.

See all that new growth? This has occurred over a four week period.

The rose is blooming it's head off! Julie over at A Succulent Life told me she uses banana peels in her rose garden and has had fabulous success with her roses.

I followed her advice about and agree that Roses go bananas for bananas! Who would have thought! Thanks Julie!

April's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 3

Lots of growth and more produce from the Springtime garden.

clockwise: Broccoli, Purple Carnival Pepper, Tomato, Hot Banana Pepper, Cauliflower, Spinach, Radish, Blue Lake Pole Beans.

See my previous blog:

March's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 2

What's done in my garden: Spinach, Lettuces, Arugula, Cauliflower, "Early Girl" "Solar Fire" and so-called "Heatwave" Tomatoes....really..I won't bother with either of those 3 varieties again.

What's ongoing and thriving:

Onion slips planted in November are filling out.

Back in November, when the daytime temperatures were between 75 to 79 F, I planted slips of onions and cauliflower transplants. In January I planted cabbages which are still maturing.

March Onions

Onions take "forever" to form mature bulbs, I'll probably harvest them in May...or maybe even June the rate they're growing! Onions like lots of water, so I have had to water them a lot as rainfall has been light this winter....doesn't look like much progress at the moment, does it? But all of a sudden they will form bulbs..although nothing as spectacular as a Vidalia.

April Onions

Cauliflowers are done. It has been such a warm "winter." If I had planted more (as transplants in December and January) I might still be harvesting them to (maybe) the end of April. I tied off the Cauliflowers with their own leaves - "blanching" - to keep the heads white, Cauliflowers have very shallow roots, so they don't need a deep space to thrive in....but like the onions they also need a lot of water, so they share the same veggie bed as the onions. I can't recommend growing this enough. Home grown Cauli is just awesome! You can break off the florets and eat them raw with a ranch dip - or blue cheese - very healthy!

March and April Cauliflower "White Cloud"

Cabbages:

March Cabbages

April Cabbages

As you can see the Cabbages have spread out and bare compost-earth is no longer visible. I hope they don't all bolt before I can harvest them. Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower seedlings prefer temperatures below 75 degrees Fahrenheit. In Zone 10 we are already in the mid 80's.

Broccoli:

Packman: After we harvested the main heads, we have been able to harvest broccoli shoots every day for over 2 months now and allow me to give you a word of advice. When the little broccoli shoots get smaller and smaller, give the plant a really good haircut - maybe a 1/4 off the whole plant. It will spring right back- really it will! I let a few buds mature into flowers because the hummers and those cute-little-green-bees can't get enough of the yellow flowers.

Give that Broccoli a Haircut.....please!

I have a second planting in place (Waltham) and they are maturing nicely, so we will enjoy home grown Broccoli into late May.

Carrots:

Danvers

Danvers carrots are a teeny bit crowded, but our Cockateil loves to eat the nutritious shoots, so when I thin them out "Sunday" gets a treat.

Tomatoes:

April 11th 2013

For years I have vacillated between growing tomatoes in the ground, and growing tomatoes in large pots. This is the pot that has a small, sunken pot in the middle in which I put the hose to water both the tomato and the nasturtiums.

Same potted Tomato: March 29th 2013

The potted tomato is three times larger than a transplant planted at the same time in one of the vegetable beds in the garden.

Pineapple:

The pineapple is coming along. Homegrown pineapple is so much juicier than those bought in the store.

Harvest on Wednesday, Then Dinner

86 F degrees today. So I picked the last of my "White Cloud" Cauliflower before it bolted.

From the Cauliflower moving in a clockwise direction, we have Basil, Radish, Pole Beans, sprigs of German Thyme, Broccoli, a purple Carnival Pepper with an Early Girl Tomato and a Hot Banana Pepper

What's for dinner? Individual cheesy meatloaves, with red potato wedges and steamed garden veggies. This is not a weight-watchers recipe, but gratifyingly meaty, tasty and cheesy.

2lb ground beef or poultry
2 cups of shredded cheese - 1 cup mixed in with meat, 1 cup set aside
1/4 cup dried romano/parmesan cheese
snips of the german thyme and a few snipped leaves of basil
1 beaten egg
1 cup of breadcrumbs
lots of black pepper
2 - 4 tablespoons of water, enough to make the meat "dough" supple

Handling the meat as little as possible, incorporate all the ingredients into the meat, cover and let sit in the fridge for an hour.

Shape the meat into patty "boats" - the patty has to have a slight indentation - see bottom right, in order to hold the remainder 1 cup of cheese (divided between 4). I used mozzarella. Now dab water around the perimeter and put a thin "lid" on the "boat".

Cover any cracks in the meat wall by using water to get as tight a seal as possible, otherwise the cheese leaks out.

Put in a 350 F oven - middle rack - for an hour.
Steam your potato wedges, and when softened remove to separate dish and mash.

Use about 1/2 cup of that water to steam a few sprigs of thyme, now add the cauliflower, broccoli, sliced radish, sliced tomato, Carnival pepper and the pole beans. I didn't use the hot banana pepper. Add any other veggies you have on hand - mushrooms, sliced squash etc. - and use 2 teaspoons of olive oil to mix.
Steam about 15 minutes, with the lid on.

I added some blueberries to the last few minutes of the steamed vegetables. Pick the thyme stems out before serving.

The cheese inside the meatloaves still leaked out a bit, so I just topped it on top of the meatloaf.

Very delicious!

Harvest on Wednesday, Then Dinner

We have had some very cool nights over the last three days, and we are LOVING IT!!

Here's my produce count for today.

From left to right,
Packman Broccoli "sprouts" (for broccoli this is my daily count)
Blue Lake Pole Beans - love this variety, very crisp and with a nutty flavor
I picked the tomatoes early to ripen them on my windowsill because the vine scrambled up into the 15 foot Bottlebrush thereby providing a convenient perch for the Cardinals to peck a few holes (they might be Early Girl, which I am not enamored with at all, due to poor production)
Below the tomats is the Red Sails lettuce (of which I only eat the inner tender leaves)
Purple Carnival Pepper, and above the pepper is
Tyee Fi Spinach

I bought the Broccoli and Early Girl Tomato as transplants. I grew the Blue Lake Pole beans, the Tyee Fi Spinach, and Carnival Pepper from a seed packet. But the Red Sails Lettuce, I harvested the seeds last year and planted in the fall of 2012.

My "Carnival" peppers have really taken off with several peppers on each bush.
Zone 10 you have time to get your seeds underway and, if you are interested in planting the "Carnival" variety of peppers, go here:

Burpee Carnival Peppers

What's For Dinner?
The boys will have brisket of beef tonight with the fresh broccoli, chopped pepper, and the pole beans as a side. No photo, I'm still cooking it!

Seeds of Change stock Tyee Fi Spinach

Oh, and did I mention we have Pineapples growing again?

Pineapple Floret

......love, love Florida!
go here to see my blog on getting Pineapples growing.
Growing Pineapples - It's Easy!!

Happy Passover or Easter!